ASU women’s basketball finishes 9th in Pac-12

Arizona State women’s basketball again fell into a first-half hole against USC, but Sunday, it couldn’t dig its way out.

The Trojans, who led 34-23 at halftime, held off ASU 67-60 at Wells Fargo Arena despite a double-double by forward Janae Fulcher in her final home game.

Fulcher, a fifth-year senior, had 17 points and a career high 13 rebounds as the Sun Devils closed within four points on four occasions in the second half. ASU’s only other senior, guard Micaela Pickens, was close to a double-double with eight points and nine boards while playing through stomach problems.

“I know the returners (next season) wanted to send the seniors out on a winning note,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “It seemed almost like we were trying too hard.”

The Sun Devils hit just two of 23 3-point attempts, one of those by Pickens with 32 seconds left. Turner Thorne said she counted 11 missed layups in the first half alone. The poor shooting was enough to offset ASU’s 44-35 rebounding advantage and a 19-10 edge in points off turnovers.

USC (10-19, 7-11 Pac-12) led 36-20 at halftime when the teams met in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, only to be outscored 40-17 in the second half of a 60-53 ASU win.

That script seemed to be repeating when Fulcher scored six points in a 10-3 run, cutting ASU’s deficit to 41-37 with 9:53 remaining. But USC found enough offense from its lone senior, Christina Marinacci, who did not play in the earlier game, and three others to earn a split.

USC led 54-46 when Cassie Harberts converted a three-point play with 2:32 left and was up by 10 at the 36-second mark. ASU managed to close within 64-60 with 19 seconds left on a Pickens follow and free throw, and Arnecia Hawkins missed a pair of 3-point tries that would have cut the deficit to two with about 10 ticks remaining.

“In the huddles at every single possession, we were saying don’t give up,” Fulcher said. “That was probably the longest two minutes and 13 seconds I’ve played in my entire life, but I’m so proud of how hard we fought.”

Pickens was a two-year starter after playing at Cypress College.

“I tried to make the best of the days I got here,” she said. “ I’m happy I came to this program. It taught me a lot just in life general. I see a really bright future.”

Fulcher, in her first full season as a starter, is ASU’s leading scorer.

“I have a true family here,” she said. “It’s been a very long journey. My role has changed every year, and I was so blessed to have the role I did this year as a leader for this team. I’m so grateful for this team. They’re going to do a lot of big things next year.”

ASU (13-17, 5-13) is ninth in the Pac-12 and faces eighth-place Washington State (10-19, 6-12) in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in Seattle on Thursday. The winner of that game faces No.1 seed Stanford (28-2, 17-1) on Friday.

Washington State beat ASU 77-65 in Pullman on Jan. 6, and 54-43 in Tempe on Feb. 1. Stanford won the only meeting vs. the Sun Devils, 69-45 in Palo Alto on Feb. 10.

Posting a comment to our website allows you to join in on the conversation. Share your story and unique perspective with members of the azcentral.com community.

Comments posted via facebook:

► Join the Discussion

azcentral.com has switched to the Facebook comment system on its blogs. Existing blog comments will display, but new comments will only be accepted via the Facebook comment system. To begin commenting, you must be logged into an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. While we welcome you to join conversations, readers are responsible for their comments and abuse of this privilege will not be tolerated. We reserve the right, without warning or notification, to remove comments and block users judged to violate our Terms of Service and Rules of Engagement. Facebook comments FAQ

Join thousands of azcentral.com fans on Facebook and get the day's most popular and talked-about Valley news, sports, entertainment and more - right in your newsfeed. You'll see what others are saying about the hot topics of the day.